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La Agenda 2030 y los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) plantean la necesidad de profundos cambios para hacer frente a problemas de desarrollo de todo tipo a nivel global. Este ambicioso punto de partida no está exento de problemas, entre los que se incluyen las dudas sobre su implementación, o las posibles contradicciones entre los propios objetivos. El artículo estudia las implicaciones del ODS 8, que junto al empleo propone el crecimiento económico como un mecanismo para avanzar en el cumplimiento de la Agenda y sus objetivos. Partiendo de una revisión del concepto del crecimiento, en el marco de las teorías sobre desarrollo, se analizan los posibles conflictos con otros ODS centrados en objetivos sociales o ambientales.

Public administration is a key agent for achieving development goals, and this is recognised in the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals. This international consensus requires the involvement of a large number of agents, and the mainstreaming of these global challenges into public policies. However, a practice that could be key in this regard, such as public procurement, does not receive sufficient attention within this framework. Faced with a broad range of goals and targets that cover environmental, economic and social issues, the 2030 Agenda lacks an adequate framework and tools to address the solution to these challenges, and public procurement could have greater prominence as a driver of progress for a number of these goals. The paper studies the role and potential of public procurement as an instrument of policy to contribute to the international development agenda. Therefore, the paper analyses documentation and reports of the main institutions that have worked on these issues to date: United Nations, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the Reflection Group on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Despite having been considered in the design of the Agenda, subsequent reports by the United Nations give little importance to the role of public procurement, which contrasts with that expressed by civil society.

Universities are increasingly being asked to contribute to addressing the significant local and global challenges, such as those identified in the 2030 Agenda. Set in this framework, universities need to account for the social value they generate through their activities, particularly from the perspective of their contribution to different stakeholders. This approach requires, first of all, that the main stakeholders are identified. Relationship and dialogue mechanisms then need to be established which can help guide universities to choose activities which can better meet the needs of their stakeholders. The current paper analyses the potential of integrated reports, and triple bottom line reports, as an instrument for reporting on aspects that go beyond the financial sphere, including economic, social and environmental aspects. Specifically, the paper focuses on studying the viability of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for reporting the value that European universities generate for their stakeholders. The results show, firstly, that the universities in the sample do not sufficiently address these questions in their reports. Internal stakeholders are prominent in their reports, with the interaction between them and the universities being generally unidirectional. References to value generated are limited, and usually refer to the economic value. However, some examples of good practices are identified that could be used to improve standards of reporting, especially in universities committed to integrated reporting initiatives, in order to better reflect the social value. This research was funded by University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) US20/11.

This article analyses the determinants for social and economic efficiency in microfinance institutions using a seemingly unrelated regression. We find two factors that improve their relative efficiency: legal status and target market; however, age and scale are not clear determinants. The main contribution of this paper is to engage microfinance institutions to achieve the desired social efficiency without giving up economic efficiency as the two can be complementary; moreover, it is possible to be efficient as a Non Banking Financial Institution/Non-Governmental Organization with small size and low-end target, at least. The paper is a new contribution in line with the so-called paradox of social cost. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Las técnicas de valoración de empresas se centran en aspectos económico-financieros, que no resultan suficientes para las entidades no lucrativas, cuyas prioridades se asocian a la consecución de un interés general. Hasta ahora, diversas técnicas de contabilidad social como el Valor Social Integrado (VSI) han servido para reflejar estas inquietudes en las entidades no lucrativas. En este artículo, utilizando un museo como caso ilustrativo, se va a demostrar cómo es posible la valoración de las entidades no lucrativas utilizando la contabilidad social, y aprovechando al tiempo (de forma adaptada) las bases de las técnicas de valoración de empresas. Los principales resultados demuestran, en primer lugar, que el Valor Social Integrado es una variable monetizable, y por tanto útil y sencilla para realizar valoraciones de entidades. Aunque esta variable puede ser utilizada para todo tipo de organizaciones, para las no lucrativas es esencial ya que permite la comparación de su dimensión social, más acorde con su propósito como entidades. La principal contribución consiste en demostrar que es posible calcular el Valor Social Esperado (VSE, mediante la proyección y actualización de VSI) para valorar entidades de todo tipo. Esto tiene también implicaciones en las teorías relacionadas con la valoración de empresas, que podrán tener en cuenta variables más allá de las meramente económicas o transaccionales, y adaptarse a las situaciones actuales donde lo social es una variable más a valorar por parte de los decisores, tanto estratégicos, institucionales, como inversionistas.

Discussions on Official Development Assistance, its effectiveness and interest are not new, but the current crisis has increased the critical pressure in this regard. In this context it is important to review the role of ODA -traditionally linked to the reduction of poverty and inequality- to analyze its relationship with the changes in these variables, and also the potential influence of this on its own identity. To do this, the work first examines the evolution of the discourse on these issues, and then analyzes the limited evidence on the impact of ODA in the evolution of these questions during the period 1990-2010.

Financial exclusion situations persist around the world, despite the financialization processes of the economy in recent years, and are widespread in low- and middle-income countries, affecting their development potential. Microfinance has thus been a response that combines proximity to low-income clients with adapted, socially oriented and efficient practices. The growth of the sector has been externally supported by development agencies, multilateral institutions and other international organizations, which have deemed it to be a novel financial and development instrument, but doubts still remain regarding its sustainability. The article studies the period 2006-2013 using a broad sample of traditional and microfinance banks, showing the feasibility of the sector in terms of profitability, solvency and risk, and comparing this model with the traditional banking one in those contexts.

Official Development Assistance (ODA) is undergoing a process of debate. The setting of the Millennium Development Goals brought a significant boost in the amounts of money spent on ODA, which was later reinforced by the Monterrey Conference (2002), where efforts were made to redefine the role of ODA compared to other growing private flows, setting a new agenda to finance the development. The discussion on aid effectiveness and the Paris Declaration (2005) seemed to add opportunities for rethinking ODA, and giving it a new meaning.However, during the first decade of the 21st century, and especially with the advent of the global crisis, we face a picture of ODA tendency towards stagnation, with serious doubts about the fulfilment of its commitments, and without a clear definition of its role.In this context, the rise of decentralized co-operation driven by local governments in some European countries is a poorly understood phenomenon, which may offer alternatives to redefine the role of ODA, but has not yet clearly defined its specificity and potential.

Las Instituciones Microfinancieras se contemplan como organizaciones que deben atender a objetivos económico-financieros, al tiempo que atienden a una finalidad social. Desde una perspectiva optimista, se ha considerado a los programas de microfinanzas como una nueva clave para el desarrollo, suponiendo que tienen por su propia naturaleza un importante valor añadido social. Este artículo contribuye, a partir de una amplia base de datos, al estudio de las variables asociadas a los objetivos sociales y financieros de las Instituciones Microfinancieras. En el conjunto de los datos, que reflejan grandes diferencias entre las entidades, no se observan relaciones entre el tamaño de las mismas, su rentabilidad y desempeño social.________________________________________________Microfinance is often considered a “double bottom line” sector, which refers to organizations that take care of their financial side and their social responsibility, trying to give minimum coverage to both. An optimistic vision of microfinance programs as a new key for development considered that they had, in themselves, an important social value. This paper contributes to the study of the relations between variables linked to social and financial purposes of a wide database of Microfinance Institutions. The data reflect large differences between the entities, but no relation is found between the size, profitability and social performance of institutions.